It's taken me a
really long time to get this up, but we went on our very first family vacation in September. After months of planning and watching the days tick by, it was finally time to go on our trip! And I'm so happy to say that it was amazing and we definitely want to make it a yearly thing. Hurray for starting new traditions! And even more for building new traditions off of old ones.
When I was a kid, my grandparents took me to Myrtle Beach nearly every summer. We would take early morning walks on the beach, play in the sand, eat bologna sandwiches and Pringles for lunch (don't judge), swimming in the pool, and collecting seashells. We also would do family trips with my parents and brothers, too, so there are so many memories there.
We went to
The Breakers Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C. for our vacation. About 6+ hours from home, so not
too long in the car and not bad on the wallet for filling up the gas tank.
Before launching into what may become a picture-heavy post, here were my ways to save money on our trip -- which also let us do some more fun things:
- Book your hotel in advance. We booked a good 3+ months beforehand and I got lots of discounts while still getting a primo room (we're talking bedroom with a flatscreen, kitchen, full bath, separate "living room" with another flatscreen, sitting area & table, and a balcony on the 22nd floor!)
- Timing is everything - we went the week after Labor Day so that it was technically "off peak" but still warm. I also booked for a Monday through Friday stay to avoid weekend rates!
- Eating breakfast and lunch in the room (or on the beach!). We had a well stocked cooler full of couponed deals (from all those months of planning, y'all) and lots of snacks to cut down on food runs
- Plan your activities in advance - even dinner outings (one of our splurges) if you know the area well or do lots of research. You won't be as apt to get suckered into places on a whim that may end up being a bust
- Use the coupons that you see everywhere - for places that you already planned on going! :)
- Remember where you are - we went to the beach to enjoy the sand, the sun, and (let's be honest) the amazing pools. We got as much time enjoying the water as possible.
Day 1:
After piling into the car, we took a family selfie and hit the road (after getting properly caffeinated at Starbucks, of course).
We had to work for our vacation on the drive down. I can't remember driving in such bad rain before. There was a terrifying twenty seconds where it rained so hard that I couldn't see past our bumper. Thankfully we made it to the beach in one piece and the sun even started to peak out from behind the clouds!
Nate got so excited about seeing the ocean that he ran headfirst into the sliding glass door on our balcony. If you look
really closely, you can see the mark on his little forehead. These photos capture the very first time that my boy set foot into the ocean!
Day 2:
Operation: spend lots of time on the beach and enjoy the awesome pools at the hotel! We built sandcastles, had a great cooler picnic outside and Nate started to be a little less timid around water. Nate also decided that he wanted to be buried in the sand and thought it was hysterical. Love his fearless nature!
After a long hard day of play, I took Nate out for his first Ben & Jerry's experience. I love that it was across the street from our hotel - along with a Starbucks - and our hotel provided a coupon!
Day 3:
More fun in the sun! We also took advantage of some of the neat extras that our hotel had, like this life size chess board. Chris tried his best to teach Nate and I the main premise of chess, but N was more interested in knocking over the pieces and I just wanted to take pictures :)
For dinner, we headed to a restaurant called
Original Benjamin's (one of our splurge items). My family went there for dinner on our childhood vacations to the beach, so it was fun to recreate that with my family now. The restaurant is enormous with a huge buffet and lots of maritime decorations. One neat addition that they have now was an activity room just for kids! There was an eclectic mix of video games, maritime objects, a pretend boat and bunk, dress up clothes, and even an aquarium. It was definitely Nathan's favorite part - other than the dessert bar!
Day 4:
On our last full day at the beach, we tried to spend as much time as possible outside before we had to come in to get ready for our last big outing (and splurge!). We told Nathan that we had a big surprise for him that evening - preferred seating at
Pirate's Voyage! Think Medieval Times, but pirate themed with lots of acrobatics and swimming. Such a good way to do dinner and a show! We bought Nate a flag to cheer on our pirate crew - the enthusiasm in that kid! I thought I would lose an eye :)
Being that it was our last night and we would be driving on our last day of vacation, what's better than a night swim and stroll on the beach? It was a little chilly, but thank goodness the hotel had an enormous hot tub! I told Nate to savor these last few moments and he had a blast.
Day 5:
Sadly the realization hit us that it was time to check out and start our trip home. After we packed up our bags and loaded the luggage cart, we popped out the tripod to take our one and only family photo from the vacation. We were a sun kissed and very relaxed bunch!
Can't wait until next year's trip!
